Writers

Emergency Grants

If you are a writer in need, we can help. DGF provides emergency financial assistance to individual playwrights, composers, lyricists, and bookwriters in dire need of funds due to severe hardship or unexpected illness.

To be considered for an Emergency Grant, you must have had a play or musical produced for a paying audience anywhere in the United States or Canada, and/or published by a legitimate publishing/licensing company. Active members of the Dramatists Guild also qualify. Emergency Grants can only be awarded once per individual.

After submitting the Grant application form, please complete your application by sending a recent bank statement, resume or biography, and any other pertinent information you wish to include. Without this additional information, your application will be considered incomplete and considered ineligible for review. This information can be emailed to grants@dgf.org or by mail to the Foundation’s offices:

Hurricane Relief

For 55 years, DGF has provided financial assistance to individual playwrights, composers, lyricists, and bookwriters in need. We want to extend a special expedited process to those writers affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.

In conjunction with the application form, please email hurricanerelief@dgf.org to submit as many of the following documents as you are able:

Proof of address: a utility bill with your name and address

A recent itemized bank statement

A resume or bio including your experience as a writer for the stage

If you have any questions about DGF Hurricane Relief, please contact us at 212-391-8384 or hurricanerelief@dgf.org.

George Bailey Fund

The George Bailey Fund has been established to benefit the participants of the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop. The fund is open to first and second-year workshop members and will provide financial assistance for unforeseen expenses that go beyond the normal day-to-day cost of living and can hinder the pursuit of the craft.

The name of the fund was inspired by a scene in It’s A Wonderful Life, which stems from an assignment given during the workshop. In the scene, George Bailey gives his friends and neighbors what they need to tide them over financially, which is exactly what the donor, who wishes to remain anonymous, hopes the fund will achieve. As someone who has participated in the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop, the donor has seen firsthand how unexpected expenses can interfere with the creative process needed to succeed in the program and wanted to offer financial support to those in need during the early stages of their careers.

Grants of up to $500 per person will be awarded during each workshop term, September through August and eligibility will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

All applications will be managed by The Dramatists Guild Foundation and workshop director Patrick Cook, BMI’s Director of Jazz & Musical Theatre, along with workshop administrator Frederick Freyer, will determine the eligibility for grants.

All applicants’ personal information will be kept strictly confidential.

"The Dramatists Guild Foundation is there to catch you when you fall. Jobless and unable to pay my rent, I thought I had nowhere to turn, but then I applied for an emergency grant from the DGF. With its financial support, the Dramatists Guild Foundation helped me get through one of the toughest times of my career."

Katori Hall

2010 Olivier Award winner for The Mountaintop

"I applied to the Foundation when I was in real and totally unromantic trouble. Help arrived speedily and quietly in the form of a grant, which allowed me to pay my rent. The Foundation does not dole out statues and plaques; it gives people help when people need help."

Will Eno

Pulitzer Prize finalist for Thom Pain (based on nothing)

"DGF helped me at a very crucial time—most every writer knows what I'm talking about: that knuckle-gnawing period between a commission and royalty check. Because of the Foundation, I was able to feed and shelter my piano (and myself) for a short, critical while."

Michael John LaChiusa

Theaters

Writers Alliance Grants

For over 50 years, we have supported the production of new plays and musicals across the country through our Theater Grant Program. In addition to funding new work, DGF has partnered with the Dramatists Guild of America to change the national conversation about how writers are treated by the institutions that produce their work. DGF’s new Writers Alliance Grants will continue this tradition of supporting nonprofit theaters with fair and equitable practices, while demonstrating our enhanced efforts to get funds directly in the hands of writers.

Starting this fall, 10 theaters will be selected annually to receive a $5,000 grant to go toward producing a new work, and another $5,000 will be given directly to the writer(s) being produced. The award granted to the writer is not in lieu of any payment by the theater.

Writers Alliance Grants are awarded to both nonprofit theaters and writers in celebration of working relationships that align deeply with DGF core values. The writer is one whose work pushes boundaries and shows tremendous promise. The theater, which is either currently or slated to work with that writer, is one that holds itself to superlative ethical standards in supporting the livelihoods and careers of writers.

HOW TO APPLY

Applicant Requirements

Applicants must:

Be a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization

Organizations operating under fiscal sponsors such as Fractured Atlas will no longer be eligible.

Have a minimum of three years demonstrated production history

Be a producing company

Development centers will no longer be eligible.

Be in good standing with DGF concerning submission of final reports for any grants previously given.

Demonstrate a commitment in gender and ethnic diversity in the writers produced.

Application Process

Applicants will be required to complete a brief form and submit the following supplemental materials:

Board member list with affiliations

3 years of production history

Executed contract with a writer from the past year for a production of comparable size OR a contract with an executed DG Amendment

Most recent Board-approved organizational budget

Productions budget for the project for which the theater is seeking funding

Applicants will be scored on their contracts with writers and the artistic merit of the project for which they are requesting funding. The application must contain an executed contract from the past year and will be scored on a scale of -2 to +2 by the Dramatist Guild of America. Only applicants that receive a score of +2 will be reviewed by DGF’s Theater Grant Committee for artistic merit. Applicants who submit a contract with an executed DG Amendment will automatically receive a +2 on the contract and proceed immediately to consideration based on artistic merit.

All awardees will be required to submit the executed contract for the project for which they received funding once it has been signed by all parties. If this contract is not found to be in keeping with all DG contract guidelines, their awards will be revoked.

Recipients of the DGF Writers Alliance Grant will not be eligible to apply for five years following the year they are awarded.

The 2017 grant cycle will open on October 1 and close on November 1.
For questions about the application process, email grants@dgf.org or call 212-391-8384.

Awards

The Dramatists Guild Foundation recognizes achievement in the theater by administering and/or presenting awards in several categories:

THE FLORA ROBERTS AWARD

Named in honor of the famed theatrical agent, this award is presented to individuals in recognition and gratitude of their distinguished work in the world of theater and to encourage the continuation of that work.

THE KIRKWOOD AWARD

Given in honor of author and playwright James Kirkwood to a theater whose mission includes the encouragement, nurturing, and mentoring of emerging playwrights.

THE MADGE EVANS & SIDNEY KINGSLEY AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN THEATER

Given respectively to a deserving stage actress and to a playwright who are mid-career.

Past Recipients

Actress

Year

Playwright

Cherry Jones

1998

Frances Sternhagen

Kathleen Chalfant

1999

Christopher Durang

Marian Seldes

2000

Donald Margulies

Julie Harris

2001

Romulus Linney

Uta Hagen

2002

John Guare

Elizabeth Franz

2003

August Wilson

Judith Ivey

2004

Terrence McNally

Ruby Dee

2005

Edward Albee

Lois Smith

2006

Marsha Norman

Laura Linney

2008

John Patrick Shanley

Estelle Parsons

2010

David Ives

Linda Lavin

2012

Lynn Nottage

Viola Davis

2014

Lisa Kron

Audra McDonald

2016

Craig Lucas

THE LANFORD WILSON AWARD

The new Lanford Wilson Award, established by a generous contribution from Wilson’s estate and matched by the Dramatists Guild, will bestow $35,000 on a dramatist based primarily on their work as an early career playwright. The award is named after Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony nominated playwright Lanford Wilson who passed away in 2011. A Pulitzer Prize winner for “Talley’s Folly,” Lanford was one of the trailblazers of the Off-Off and Off-Broadway movements. The 2013 recipient for the Lanford Wilson prized was awarded to Francine Volpe in recognition of her outstanding work as an American playwright.

Recipient

Year

Latest News

The Dramatists Guild Foundation Board of Directors is proud to announce it has just elected Kevin Hager to be its new Vice President. Mr. Hager is the Managing Director of Understood.org and Vice President and Chief Digital Officer of the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD).

The Dramatists Guild Foundation and Program Chairs Michael Korie, Laurence O’Keefe, and Diana Son announce applications for the 2017-18 DGF Fellows Program are now open and encourage playwrights, composers, lyricists, and bookwriters to apply.